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Two men are lucky to be alive today, surviving the overturning of the van they were traveling in yesterday afternoon—not wearing seatbelts. Trooper Searcy of the state patrol cited both for not wearing their belts when the rental truck they were in skidded and flipped on US 421 just before the Wilkes County line.
Paramedics and rescue units from Watauga and Wilkes, as well as Deep Gap and Champion Firemen arrived at the scene to find the two men suffering a number of injuries, and both were transported as stretcher patients. Timothy Teal of New London, driver, and his passenger, Christopher Tompkins of Archdale were transported for treatment. Trooper Searcy said that the van had been south-bound on 421, hydroplaned in the rain, and skidded into the hill facing, with witnesses saying that it flipped several times before coming to rest facing the opposite direction in the ditch at a truck turn-out. Teal was cited for exceeding a safe speed as well as the seat belt violation.